Christmas Traditions
by Hells-angel8
Summary: Duo has a certain tradition for christmas that he has to do every year. However, something happens this year to slightly bend it and Duo doesn't know what to do about it.


Title: Christmas Traditions  
Pairing: 1x2x1  
Author: Hellfireangel  
Dedication to the GW flist

Heero says that I have a habit around this time a year.

I think it started when we first got together and I was so sure that we couldn't last. Even though I loved him with everything I had, a part of me kept thinking that one day he would just get sick of me and leave. He was stunning, handsome, and with those gorgeous eyes of his, who could resist him. I certainly couldn't.

Imagine my surprise when all these years have gone by and he's still here with me. He says that he'll never be able to leave me. He just can't. And when I ask him why. He just smiles at me and says I know why.

I can guess why he does, but he never says anything more than that every year.

I think that's one of the reasons I had my break down this year. Heero was at work and since I had a day off, I decided to put up our small christmas tree and decorate it while I had the time. Heero would probably come home and help me decorate the rest of the house with me. But I just have to put up the tree and and decorate it while he isn't there.

I had the habit of doing every year that we've been together. Heero knows I have to do it and that's why he always works at least one of the days before christmas so I can do it while he's at the office. He doesn't ask why I have to do it alone, but I guess after all this time he's stopped trying to come up with the answer. He always comes home just in time to toss the tinsel on the boughs, but he didn't come home at the time he usually did that night.

He didn't come home at all. I stayed up and decorated the rest of the house without him. But it pained me to do it.

Every time I was hanging something, I would look over my shoulder and expect him to be there, ready to hand me whatever I asked for. It hurt to know my partner wasn't there. That maybe he wouldn't be coming back tonight. Maybe never again.

It was pretty early in the morning by the time I was finished with the rest of the decorations. All that I had left was the mistletoe. We would hang it up together, then kiss beneath it. It was the other christmas tradition that we kept every year.

But Heero wasn't home. I didn't know if he would come home, and because of that fact I couldn't bear to hang it up. I left it lying on the table and went to bed. Doubting that I would actually be able to go to sleep without him in bed with me, but I just wanted to lie down any way.

I couldn't keep myself from crawling into his side of the bed and burying my face into his pillow. I don't remember when the tears started to flow, but I just felt that I wouldn't be able to stop once they came. All I could feel was the hot tears streaking down my face into his pillow, that smelled like him, and thinking I was all alone. If I just stayed there, maybe I would die and wouldn't have to deal with Heero leaving me.

I don't quite remember when I fell to sleep that night, but I know that somehow, just curling into a tight ball and wrapping myself around Heero's pillow made me fall asleep. The sun was streaming through the window that I knew was shut the night before. With a start I tried to get up, but found that I was unable to. I was tangled up in arms and legs that weren't around me the night before and instead of the pillow I was clutching, Heero was there in the flesh.

"Good morning Duo." He whispered against my forehead and kissed it lightly. I had to swallow the large lump that formed in my throat just then.

"Y-you're back?" I asked weakly and felt his arms and legs tighten around me in response.

"Of course, I'm back. Where would I go?" He asked back, sounding confused. "I'm sorry I couldn't come home early and help you with the rest of the decorations.

I nodded slowly against his warm chest, thinking myself a fool to have doubted him so much. I tightened my arms around his body and breathed in his musky scent, knowing he was really there.

"Oh, I found this down stairs. I'm glad you waited to hang it up." He turned in my embrace and reached behind him. I wondered what he was talking about when he showed me the mistletoe that I hadn't been able to hang up.

"I couldn't do it. You weren't home." I told him weakly.

"I'm glad you waited. We can't break tradition, can we?" Then he kissed me. That warm muscle teased mine and left me tingling. "I love you, Duo. So much." He whispered against my lips then kissed me again until me toes curled and other parts of my anatomy were tingling in all other sorts of ways.

It was a long time before either of us got out of bed. But I learned that morning that I needed to keep my christmas traditions, just like Heero needed to keep his.

We hung up the misltoe and kissed for a long time that morning. I think we set a new record for the longest kiss under the mistletoe as well as some other things that the kiss had lead up to that morning. My doubts more or less buried by Heero's gentle touches and smiles, reassuring me that he was there to stay and he wasn't planning on going anywhere.

He was there to stay and as long as there were traditions to keep he would never leave.

After all, his favorite tradition was keeping me with him and happy. What could I say to that except kiss him senseless? Traditions are great to have especially when we both never intend to break them. And I intend on making a tradition of never breaking them.


End file.
